My dad has always told me that exercising makes him feel euphoric. I have no idea what the heck he's talking about. I've never felt euphoric from exercise (neither during nor after). If anything, I find a lot of my drive to exercise is literally fueled by rage. Nothing makes me run longer or faster than when I think about something that truly and completely angers me. However, you seem to feel anger afterwards? Is it maybe because you feel what you're doing is having no effect? Or maybe you just dislike your form of exercise?

If you have PCOS, I've heard there are a lot of problems with just losing weight the "normal" way. Now, I can't remember if that was because of a dietary thing, or what. Have you looked into what works in terms of diet/exercise for people who have PCOS?

The other thing I'll ask... and be as honest as you can be with yourself (you don't need to answer here), are you TRULY honest about your food intake? Often people think they're eating far less than they actually are (case in point my mother... I went home last week and added up daily calories for her when she told me she couldn't figure out why she wasn't losing weight. It was a simple case of just too many calories consumed per day even though they were healthy calories.) I'd encourage use of a program like My Fitness Pal (free online and there's also a free iphone or android app) that helps you count your calories.

I use MFP, but I'm actually thinking of trying something else (or really really going tight on the foods).

As for the anger, it exists on the way to the gym, during the workout (whether with the trainer or not, and he's a very nice guy), and afterwards as well. The form of exercise, in of itself, doesn't bother me - I can say I dislike the eliptical, am indifferent to the treadmill, like the bike, and can tolerate the various weight machines. It could be the repitions, it could be the "what the hell is the point?" feeling, I'm not sure there.

And no, I haven't looked into PCOS-specific diet/exercise, because I hadn't heard that actually. Thanks

Fetzie wrote:The Defias Brotherhood is back, and this time they are acting as racketeers in Goldshire. Anybody wishing to dance for money must now pay them protection money or be charged triple the normal amount when repairing.

I happen to watch a weight loss update for a woman that has PCOS. I have no idea if what she's referring to may help you (or not) but she does talk briefly about how PCOS has affected her. The youtube channel is http://www.youtube.com/projectnotfat and the person you're looking for there is Sarah. I think she mentions PCOS the most in her first few videos.

I would feel pretty irritated towards working out and eating right as well if I didn't think it was going anywhere. Your resentment towards exercise may stem from that. Anyway, I hope the PCOS stuff helps you out.

Thank you very much! I'll take a look tonight (while I shamefully happily install my new Sims 3 expansion).

Fetzie wrote:The Defias Brotherhood is back, and this time they are acting as racketeers in Goldshire. Anybody wishing to dance for money must now pay them protection money or be charged triple the normal amount when repairing.

So I was going through my personal photos just now and was taken aback by a few of them. As some of you know, I've been doing a lot of working out and losing weight lately. And you can definitely see progress. Since I always find picture proof as motivation, I thought I'd post a few on here. For reference, I'm 5'3".

First off, as a starting point, this is what I looked like before I started playing WoW. I have zero idea how much I weighed, but looking at that shot I see some chub, but nothing too crazy as I was playing soccer about 5 times a week during this phase of my life. This was probably around 2005.

As I started playing WoW, and playing less and less sports, my weight shot up. This is what I looked like when Invis and I met for the first time in 2010. Definite weight gain. Would probably guess I weighed around 185 there.

Over the course of playing WoW more and more (and the oh so glorious weight gain that came with the first year of marriage) I hit my highest weight around 196 pounds. This picture is actually frightening to me and I didn't even realize I had it as I was deleting any full body shots I didn't like of myself at the time (which was EVERYTHING). Never in my life did I actually think I looked like what this picture looks like. Yuck.

Determined to lose weight, I lost about 20 pounds before we had our wedding (one year after we got married at city hall). So I'd dropped to roughly 175 pounds:

However, I didn't stop after the wedding.

I think I was around roughly 160 pounds:

And these are at 150 pounds:

I'm up roughly 5 pounds from those shots (went on vacation in England and Ireland, you can imagine how much I drank), but am really, REALLY happy with my progress so far. I think I'm aiming for 140 pounds at the moment, but I'm sure pleased with how I look now. The sad thing? This is how I thought I always looked, even when I was 46 pounds heavier. Hard to believe how much our own eyes can lie to us.

140lbs is probably my target too, just because that's where I was at when I was 21 and that will get me back into size 12 clothes. Now that my hormone levels aren't ridiculous I've been trying to make a good go of it. I wish I had a swimming pool conveniently in the back garden because cutting down on carbs, 10min intense workouts and going on the exercise bike are not fun. I think I can to where I want to be within 18 months however I know as soon as I do I'll stop exercising because I hate how it feels and I will have to address my gross stretch marks but yeah, I have over a year to figure out that problem...

Swimming is the ideal for me but that requires losing enough weight to not feel self-concious. I might start playing badminton with a friend once a week but I will still need to do the tedious stuff everyday to really lose the weight.

Feeling self-conscious about yourself is a catch .22. You have to get over that before you can even begin going to the gym (or in your case, the pool), but in order to look better and feel more confident, you have to start exercising.

Home gyms are one solution for that, but I don't really recommend them. It's too easy to skip workouts when the equipment is right there - it just gets procrastinated away until the time comes for your next session. Best bet is just to bite the bullet and use your nervous energy to help fuel your workout. Everybody started somewhere, and the reaction you get - even from the hardcore gym rats - generally isn't as bad as you would have thought before actually putting yourself out there and doing something about it.

Best of luck man, that's a shitty feeling to have.

- I'm not Jesus, but I can turn water into Kool-Aid.- A Sergeant in motion outranks an officer who doesn't know what the hell is going on.- A demolitions specialist at a flat run outranks everybody.

If you're really that self conscious about your appearance, you could just start reducing your caloric intake for now and only start exercising when you feel you look better. It's not the path I'd personally take, but it's an idea.

140lbs is probably my target too, just because that's where I was at when I was 21 and that will get me back into size 12 clothes. Now that my hormone levels aren't ridiculous I've been trying to make a good go of it. I wish I had a swimming pool conveniently in the back garden because cutting down on carbs, 10min intense workouts and going on the exercise bike are not fun. I think I can to where I want to be within 18 months however I know as soon as I do I'll stop exercising because I hate how it feels and I will have to address my gross stretch marks but yeah, I have over a year to figure out that problem...

Size differences between the UK and North America always weird me out. A 12 in UK clothing is either a 10 or an 8 here I think.

Stretch marks fade over time but aside from surgery there's no way to get rid of them. Ones I got on my hips and thighs from my teen years have long since turned pearly white (compared to the red/purple they were when they original formed). I've gotten used to them and they really don't bother me. That being said, I never got them in places that I considered "unfortunate" (which to me is stomach and arms).

Fivelives wrote:Home gyms are one solution for that, but I don't really recommend them. It's too easy to skip workouts when the equipment is right there - it just gets procrastinated away until the time comes for your next session.

It is but when the gym is over 40 minutes walk away and you don't drive, it's even easier to procrastinate over that! So far exercising at home is working out okay as it means I can be fairly spontaneous about it.

Nikachelle wrote:If you're really that self conscious about your appearance, you could just start reducing your caloric intake for now and only start exercising when you feel you look better. It's not the path I'd personally take, but it's an idea.

I've pretty much hit a brick wall with dieting. I've been a vegan for a very long time, exclusively drink water and smoothies, don't eat sweets or crisps and have now cut back massively on bread, potatoes and pasta. I could try reducing my portion sizes (if anyone has any techniques for that, I am all ears) even more but any progress from diet alone will be really slow and I eat a lot less during summer anyway.

Nikachelle wrote:Stretch marks fade over time but aside from surgery there's no way to get rid of them. Ones I got on my hips and thighs from my teen years have long since turned pearly white (compared to the red/purple they were when they original formed). I've gotten used to them and they really don't bother me. That being said, I never got them in places that I considered "unfortunate" (which to me is stomach and arms).

I have them at the hips, thighs, arms and tummy. I would never consider surgery but I will be using bio oil.

Lieris wrote:I could try reducing my portion sizes (if anyone has any techniques for that, I am all ears) even more but any progress from diet alone will be really slow and I eat a lot less during summer anyway.

Here's what I'm doing (and more, making my food buddy do):

Use smaller plates/bowls. Instead of a dinner plate, for example, use a salad plate. Use smaller utensils - instead of the tablespoon, use the teaspoon. When food is placed in mouth, put the utensil down. No TV, no reading, or iPod playing. And the big thing - whatever you have planned after the meal is NOT such an emergency that you must eat so fast, you might as well shove the plate in your mouth too.

The first is my issue. The rest, seriously, is my food buddy's - I cannot fathom how anyone can shove a tablespoon (or the dinner fork) into their mouth; he tells me that because he's a military brat, he learned to eat fast, so he does the "scoop and shovel" method which drives me bonkers beyond belief - he literally loads up the utensil, shoves it into his mouth, and after precisely 2-3 chews, is shovelling more in; and he has this habit of needing to read the grocery store ad while eating (or watching TV, which I've taken to turning off during meals), or needing to read Facebook on his phone, or answering texts, or...you get the point. So far, it seems to be working for me, which leads to the following...

So I did all that, plus this past Sunday, we started a change - fruits, veggies, and meats only. No breads, pasta, tortillas, rice, etc. No soda, no energy drinks, and he's agreed to 1 cup of coffee/day. He wants to lose weight; so do I, but my primary goal is to bring my blood sugar under control, and absolutely nothing else has helped (I don't know why I figured this would, since it hasn't before).

So far, we've stuck to it, with much complaints about no rice or no fast food hamburgers. I found out that even chewing gum will spike my blood sugar, which struck me as weird. But anyway...I woke up this morning, nauseous and headachey. Just before leaving for work, I did my morning check, and figured out why I feel like hell. My fasting number was in the normal range (it was 102), and apparently, my body doesn't like normal.

So that's a success, it's actually down that far, and a frustration because I've felt like hell all morning. But, it's part of being healthy, so that's why it's here (though, seriously? If this is healthy feels like, fuck this shit - I feel better when I'm unhealthy )

Fetzie wrote:The Defias Brotherhood is back, and this time they are acting as racketeers in Goldshire. Anybody wishing to dance for money must now pay them protection money or be charged triple the normal amount when repairing.

That sounds a lot like the paleo diet. There's lots of resources out there for paleo if you need recipe ideas or anything. What you're feeling is probably a common thing sometimes called the low carb flu. It will pass!

Though if you're exercising while eating paleo, keep an eye on your carb intake. You need extra carbs to support exercise, and we're not used to working for them with the prevalence of breads and such. Sweet potatoes and squashes like butternut are awesome for carbs.

If you're just starting this type of clean eating, look into doing a Whole 30. It's pretty much a super-strict month of clean eating to clear your body of the crap, and once you're done you can start reintroducing things to see how you fare.

Amirya wrote:Use smaller plates/bowls. Instead of a dinner plate, for example, use a salad plate. Use smaller utensils - instead of the tablespoon, use the teaspoon. When food is placed in mouth, put the utensil down. No TV, no reading, or iPod playing.

That's actually the plan on my part, going for 30 days with this. I'm currently not exercising because of how awful I tend to feel right now; the plan is, soon as it passes, to get back to exercising. Apparently, our personal trainer misses me...

And you're welcome, Lieris. It tends to be a visual thing, I believe - if it doesn't look filled, then you're being "cheated" out of what you're due; but if it looks filled, then you're getting your "fair share." At least, that's how the brain tends to operate.

Fetzie wrote:The Defias Brotherhood is back, and this time they are acting as racketeers in Goldshire. Anybody wishing to dance for money must now pay them protection money or be charged triple the normal amount when repairing.

Nikachelle wrote:I'm just throwing this down here to justify why I'm not going to the gym today. It currently "feels like" 43 degrees (that's 110 F for you other people). Do. Not. Want.

That's our overnight low temperature here in the summer months. Weather.com underreports our area, because the tourism industry demands it. All the locals who are interested in anything beyond "it's just plain fucking hot outside" keeps their own little weather monitoring station out on their patios.

According to mine, it's currently 05:54 and 97 degrees (36.1C) with 71% humidity. Relatively cool night/morning, with today's forecasted high (according to weather.com) at 111 - so it'll probably hit 116-120 today. This is why I stopped doing my runs and other assorted heavy workouts when I moved out here last summer and lost a bunch of muscle tone, so I can't exactly blame you there.

- I'm not Jesus, but I can turn water into Kool-Aid.- A Sergeant in motion outranks an officer who doesn't know what the hell is going on.- A demolitions specialist at a flat run outranks everybody.